FAQs

You should contact the trustee in bankruptcy or other insolvency official who has been appointed by a court to administer the insolvent firm. A trustee in bankruptcy is a person or corporation licensed by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada to administer bankruptcy proceedings. More information relating to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada can be obtained on the Government of Canada website at www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/eng/home. In most cases, the court will appoint an insolvency official to administer the affairs of an insolvent member firm.

If your member firm is insolvent and you don’t know who the insolvency official is, you may contact the New Self-Regulatory Organization of Canada, which is the organization that regulates investment dealers and mutual fund dealers in Canada.

CIPF protection is not available to customers for mutual fund dealer accounts located in Québec. A mutual fund dealer account is considered to be located in Québec for the purposes of CIPF coverage if the office serving the customer is located in Québec. Please contact Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF).

The appointment may be done at the request of the insolvent firm itself, certain creditors of the insolvent firm, or others. In certain circumstances, the appointment can be made at the request of CIPF. Depending on the circumstances of the insolvency, an insolvency official may be a trustee in bankruptcy, a receiver, a liquidator, a monitor, or other court-appointed official.

CIPF provides limited protection for property held by a member firm on behalf of an eligible client, if the member firm becomes insolvent. If you have an account with a member firm, and that firm becomes insolvent, CIPF works to ensure that any property being held for you by the firm at that time is returned to you, within certain limits. Client property that is eligible for CIPF protection includes securities and cash, but excludes crypto assets. CIPF also does not guarantee the value of your property. Find out more about what CIPF does and does not cover here.

CIPF protection is also not available to customers for mutual fund dealer accounts located in Québec. A mutual fund dealer account is considered to be located in Québec for the purposes of CIPF coverage if the office serving the customer is located in Québec.

CIPF’s role may include, in certain circumstances, requesting the appointment of a trustee in bankruptcy.

When an insolvency of a member firm occurs, CIPF works with the trustee in bankruptcy (if one is appointed) to return any property that was being held for clients by the member firm at the date of its insolvency as quickly as possible. Since the insolvent firm can no longer carry on the function of holding property for its clients, it is generally necessary to transfer this function to another firm. As a result, client accounts may be moved to another member firm so that clients can access their accounts.

If a trustee in bankruptcy is appointed by a court, this trustee will typically be responsible for transferring client accounts to a new solvent firm. If an insolvency official other than a trustee in bankruptcy is appointed by a court, this official will often be given the responsibility of transferring client accounts to another solvent firm.

CIPF protection will apply if the property being held on a client’s behalf is not available to be returned to the client. Certain limitations apply. Please see What Does CIPF Cover? for more information on what is covered and not covered.

CIPF protection is also not available to customers for mutual fund dealer accounts located in Québec. A mutual fund dealer account is considered to be located in Québec for the purposes of CIPF coverage if the office serving the customer is located in Québec. Please contact Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF).

Not necessarily. It is possible that those securities will not be available to be returned to you if the member firm becomes insolvent. The particular circumstances of insolvencies can vary widely. For example, one of the laws that may apply to an insolvency of an investment dealer or a mutual fund dealer in Canada is Part XII of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada). If Part XII applies, all client cash and securities held by the insolvent firm for its clients at the time of bankruptcy, other than customer name securities (registered in the customer’s name), would be included in a single customer pool”. Any “shortfall” of client cash or securities would be allocated proportionately from the customer pool across all clients after payment of bankruptcy administration costs.

CIPF protection will apply if the property being held on a client’s behalf is not available to be returned to the client. Certain limitations apply. Please see What Does CIPF Cover? for more information on what is covered and not covered.

Your first course of action should be to contact your firm’s compliance department. If they cannot resolve the issue, contact the New Self-Regulatory Organization of Canada (New SRO), who is the national self-regulatory organization that regulates investment dealers and mutual fund dealers in Canada. CIPF is not a regulator and has no authority to investigate or regulate its member firms. If your matter relates to an investment dealer firm, you can contact the IIROC division of the New SRO at 1-877-442-4322 or [email protected].

If your matter relates to a mutual fund dealer firm, you can contact the MFDA division of the New SRO at 1-888-466-6332 or [email protected]. If you are not sure, you can contact either IIROC or MFDA division and they will ensure your complaint is directed to the right place.

You may also consider contacting the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (also known as OBSI) for assistance at (416) 287-2877 or 1 (888) 451-4519, or [email protected].